E425 



ADMISSION OF CALIFORNIA. 



SPEECH 



E 423 
.W793 
Copy 1 



HON. R. C, WINTHROP. OF MASS.. 



THE PRESIDENTS MESSAGE, 



TRANSMITTING 



THE CONSTITUTION OF CALIFORNIA: 



DELIVERED IN COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESEN. 
•TATIVES^OF THE UNITED STATES, MAY 8, 1850. 



iV 





WASHINGTON: 

GIDEON & CO., PRINTERS. 
1850. 



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SPEECH. 



The House being in Committee of the Whole on the stale of the Unioiij, 
on the President's Message transmitting the Constitution of California: 

Mr. WINTHROP said: When I had the lionor of addressing the Com- 
mittee of the Whole on the slate of the Union some weeks ago, I intimated 
my purpose to lake another opportunity, at no distant day, to express, some- 
what more in detail than I was able to do on that occasion, the views which 
J entertain in regard to what have well been called the great qucstiofis of 
the day. 

The eager competitions for the floor which have been witnessed here al- 
most without intermission from that time to this, have postponed the accom- 
plishment of this purpose much longer than I could have desired. 

I rise now. however, at last, to ftilfil it. And most heartily do I wish. 
Mr. Chairman, tliat in doing so, I could see my way clear to contribute 
something to the repose of the country, and to the harmony of our national 
councils. I yield to no one in the sincerity or the earnestness of my de- 
sire, that every bone of contention between ditferent portions of the Union 
may be broken, every root of bitterness removed, and that the American 
Congress may be seen again in a condition to discharge its leo-itimate 
functions of providing at once for the wants of the Government and" for the 
interests of the people. If there be an example in history, which I would 
gladly emulate at such a moment as this, it is that of an old Swiss patriot, 

four hundred years ago — of whom I have recently read an account who^ 

when the Confederated Cantons had become so embittered against eacii other;, 
by a long succession of mutual criminations and local feuds, that the disso- 
lution of the Confederacy was openly proposed and discussed, and the liber- 
ties of Switzerland seemed on the very verge of ruin , was suddenly found rush- 
ing from his cherished retirement into the Assembly of Drpuiies. and ex- 
claiming •' Co;/co;o', concert/, concord !" and who", it is recorded , by his 
prudence, his patriotism, and his eloquence, brought back that Assembly ^ 
and the people whom they represented, to a sense of the inestimable bless- 
ings which were at slake upon the issue, and linally succeeded in restoring 
his distracted country to a condition of harmony, iranciuillity, and assured 
Union ! 

Sir, there is no sacrifice of personal opinion, of pride of consistency, of 
local regard, of official position, of present havings, or of future hopes^ 
which I would not willingly make to play such a part as this. 

Perhaps it may be said, that it has been played already. Perhaps it may 
be said, that a voice, or voices, have already been heard in the other end 
of this Capitol , if not in this, which have st'illed the angry storm of fraternal 
discord, and given us the grateful assurance that all our "controversies shall 
be peacefully settled. 

At any rate, sir, whether this be so or not, I am but loo sensible that it \s 
not given to me in this hour to attempt such a character. And let me add^ 
that there is one sacrifice which I could never make, even for all the glory 
which might result from the successful performance of so exalted a seiTice, 
I mean , the sacrifice of my own deliberately adopted and honestly cherished 
principles. Tliese 1 must avow, to-day ai'ul always. These I must stand 



to, here and everywhere. Under ulT'circiiinstaiice?, in all events, I nrast 
follow the lead of niy own conscienlions conviciions of right and off^uty. 

I assume then, today, Mr. Chairman, no character of a paciticakir." I 
.have no new plan of adjustment or reconcihation to oiler for the difficulties 
and dissensions in whicJiwe are unl)apj)ily involved. 

Still less,sii-, have I sought the lloor h\- the purpose of eniering into fresh 
controversy with any body in ihis House or elsewhere. Not even the gra- 
tuitous imputations, the second-iiand perversions and stale sarcasms, of ihe 
honorable mendDer from Connecticut, [Mr. Clkvelano,] a few days ago, 
can tempt me to employ another hour of this session in ihe mere cut and 
thrust of personal encounter. I pass from that honorable menibci with the 
single remark, that it required more than all his vehement and turgid de- 
clamation against olhers; who, as he suggested, were shaping their course 
with a view to some official promotion or reward, to make me, or, as I think, 
to make this House, forget, that the term of one of his own Connecticut 
Senators was soon about to expire, that the Connecticut Legislature wasjust 
about to assemble, and that the honorable member himself was well under- 
stood to be a prominent candidate for the vacancy ! 

And I shall be equally brief with the disiing-uished member from Penn- 
sylvania, [Mr. WiLMOT,] who honored me with nnoihcrshafi from the self- 
same quiver on Friday lasl. I will certainly not lake advantage of his ab- 
sence to deal with him at any length. Hut I cannot forbear saying, that 
as I heard him pouring forth so bitter an invective, so pitiless a philippic, 
against Southern arrogance and Northern recreancy, and as I observed the 
sleek coniplacency with which he seemed to congratulate himself that he 
alone had been proof against all the seductions of patronage, and all the 
blandishments of power, J could not help remembering that his name was 
an historical name more than a century ago, and the lines in which a cele- 
brated poet had embalmed it for immortality, came unbidden to my lips: 

" Shall parts sb various aim at nothing new ! 
" He'll sliine aTully and a Wilmol too V 

My object to-day, Mr. Chairman, is the simple and humble one of ex- 
pressing my own views on matters in regard to which I have, in some quar- 
ters, been, either intentionally or unintentionally, misunderstood, and mis- 
represented. The end of my hour will find me, I fear, with even this 
work but half accomplished; and I must rely on being judged by what shall 
be printed hereafter, rather than by what I may succeed in saying now. I 
will not, however, make my little less, by wasting any more of my time in 
an empty exordium, but will proceed at once to the business in hanii. 

And, in the first place, sir, I desire to explain, at the expense of some 
historical narrative and egotistical reference, Ihe position which I have here- 
lofore occupied in relation to a certain anti-slavery proviso, which has been 
the immediate occasion of most of those sectional dissensions by which our 
domestic peace has been of late so seriously disturbed. 

1 need not say, sir, thai I am no stranger to that y;rowwo, though, iluring 
the whole of the last Congress, I was precluded , by my position in the chair 
of the House, from giving any vote, or uttering any voice, in regard to it. 

There are those here to-day, and I n)ight single out, in no spirit of un- 
kindness certainly , the present chairman of the Committee of Ways and 
Means [Mr. Bayly] as one of them, who have often taken pains to remind 
the House and the country, that this proviso was formally proposed by me 



to a bill for establishing a government in the Oregon territory, before the 
honorable member from Pennsylvania, wjiose name it now bears, (Mr. 
WiLMOT,] had entered upon his Congressional career. 

1 have never denied this allegation. I have never desired to deny it. 
The fact is upon record; and I would not erase or alter that record if it 
were in my power to do so. But, sir, I have often desired, and always 
intended, whenever I should again he free to take pari in the discussions of 
this body, to recall to the remembrance of the House and of the country, 
the ciicumsiauces under which, and the views with which, that proposi- 
tion was made. 

It was made, Mr. Chairman, on the 1st day of February, 1S45. And 
what was the condition of the country, and of ihe public affairs of the conn- 
try, on that day? 

Oregon was then a disputed lerriiory. We were engaged at ihat tiiucsir, 
in negotiations with Great Britain, in respect to the conHiciing claims of the 
two coutiiries to that remote region. Those negotiations had been long pro- 
tracted, and had engendered a spirit of resiless impatience on the subject, 
in the minds of a great portion of the American people. The question, 
too, had been drawn — as, I regret to say, almost every question in this 
country seems destined to be drawn — into the perilous vortex of party poli- 
tics; and a Democratic Presidential triuntph had just been achieved, un- 
der a banner on which were legibly inscribed the well-remembered figures 
540 4Q'^ m,,] ijif. well-remembered phrase, " the whole or none.'''' 

Under these circimistances, sir. a bill was introduced into litis House, to 
extend the jurisdiclion of the United States over the whole territory in dis- 
pute, and to authorize the assmnption and exercise of one of the highest ai- 
trihuies of exclusive sovereignty, by granting lands to settlers. 

The bill was in other respects highly objectionable. It provided for car- 
rying on a government by the appointment of only two oflficers — a governor 
and a judge — who were to have absolute authority to promulgate and en- 
force, throughout the territory of Oregon, any and all laws which they might 
see fit to select from the statutes of any State or Territory in the Union. 
The whole destinies of Oregon were thus to be confided to the discretion 
of two men, who were to make up a code of laws to suit themselves, by 
picking and culling at pleasure from all the statute books of the country. 
They were at liberty, as the bill stood — although the entire Territory was 
above the latitude of 36° 30' — to adopt a slave code or a free code, as might 
be most agreeable to their own notions; and there was, at that very mo- 
ment, lying upon the tables before us, a report from the Indian agent or 
sub-agent in ihat quarter, from which it appeared , that a number of the 
native Indians had already been captured and enslaved by the white settlers, 
and that they v>'ere held in a state of absolute and imjustifiable bondage. 

It was under these circumstances, Mr. Ciiairman, that I moved the pro- 
viso in question; and I now read, from a speech printed at the time, the 
remarks which I made on the occasion: 

" One limitation upon the discretion of these two iriesponsil)le law-sivers ought certainly to I)r 
imposed, if this billis to pass. As it now stands, there is nothing to prevent them from legal- 
izing the existence of domestic slavery in Orei;on. It seems to be understo'-d, that this institu- 
tion is to be limited by the terms of the Missouri compromise, and is nowhere to be penniiteU m 
the American Union above the latitude of 36° .30'. Tlifre is nothing, however, to enforce this 
understanding in the present case. The published documents prove that Indian slavery alreaiJy 
exists in Oregon. I intend, therefore, to move, whenever it is in order to do so, the insertion of 



an express declaration, that ' there shall neither he slavery nor involuntary servitude in this Temtory, 
except for crime, ivhereof the party shall have been duly convicted.^ " 

I did not stop here, however, sir. The whole argument of my speech on 
that occasion, with the exception of the single sentence which I have cited, 
was against the passage of the bill in any form. 

" I am in liopes, Mr. Chairman, (such, was my distinct avowal,) that the bill will not become 
a law at the present session in any shape. Everything conspires, in my judgment, to call for 
the postponement of ,<iny such measure to a future day." 

The great and paramount objection to the bill, in my mind, was that it 
would jeopard the peace of the country; that it would break up the amica- 
ble negotiations in whicli we were engaged, and would leave no other alter- 
native for settling the ve.ved question of title between us and Great Britain ^ 
but the stern arbitrement of war. 

Entertaining this opinion, I aimed at defeating the measure by every 
means in my power; and it was well understood, at the time, that this very 
proviso was one of the means upon which I mainly relied for the purpose. 
1 deliheralely designed, by moving it, to unite the southern Democracy with 
the conservative Whigs of both the North and the South, in opposition to 
the bill, and thus to insure its defeat. 

The motion prevailed. The proviso was inserted by a vote of 131 to 69, 
And r for one, then carried out my opposition to the bill by voting against 
it, proviso and all. The southern Democracy, however, did not go with 
me on this vote. Not a few of them — tjie present Speaker of the House 
among the number — all of them, indeed, who were present, except fo2ir, 
votedin .favor of the bill, notwithstanding the anti-slavery clause; and ac- 
cordingly it passed the House. But there can be little doubt that this clause 
had its influence in arresting the bill in the other wing of tiie Capitol, where 
it remained unacted upon until the close of the session, and was thus final- 
ly lost. 

Sir, a bill to create a territorial government in Oregon, containing this 
identical j»7-om"so, has since been passed through both Houses of Congress, 
and has received the sanction and signature of a southern Democratic Presi- 
dent; and I do not suppose, therefore, that this original motion of mine will 
be hereafter so frequent a subject of southern Democratic censure as it hith- 
erto has been. But 1 have desired to place upon record, in pcrpetvam rne- 
woriflrm ret, this plain, unvarnished liistory of the case; and having done 
so, I willingly submit myself to whatever measure of censure or reproach 
such a state of facts may fairly subject me to, either from the South or from 
the North. If the ofTering of this proviso to this bill, under these circum- 
stances, with these views, and with this result, be the unpardonable offence 
which it has sometimes been styled, I can only say '^adsum, qui feci; in 
me cortveitile ferrum!^'' Nay, sir, 1 will say further, that if it be fairly 
traceable to this movement of mine, that it is no longer an open question 
whether domestic slavery shall find a foothold in the Territory of Oregon, I 
shall fe-rl that it has not been entirely in vain that I have been for ten years 
associated with the public councils of my country. 

I come next, Mr. Chairman, to \\\t proviso , which has more legitimately 
received the name of the honorable member from Pennsylvania, (Mr. Wil- 
MOT.) And It is not less important in this case, than in the other, to recall 
to the remembrance of the House and of the country the circumetances un- 
der whicli this proviso, also, was proposed. 



I think, sir, that no one who was a member of Congress at the time will 
soon forget the ciglilh day of Auo-ust, 1846. The country was at war with 
Mexico, and Congress was within eight-and-forty hours of the appointed 
close of a most protracted and laborious session. We were already almost 
exhausted by hot weather and hot work, and all the energies which were 
left us were required for winding up the great mass of pubHc business which 
always awaits the closing hours, whether of a longer or a shorter session. 
Under these circumstances, a message was received by this House from Pre- 
sident Polk, calling for an appropriation of money to enable him to negotiate 
a treaty of peace, and intimating, by a distinct reference to the precedent of 
ihe purchase of Louisiana, that he designed to employ this money in the 
acquisition of n)ore territory. 

Such d message, 1 need not say, sir, took all who were not in the Presi- 
dent's secrets greatly by surprise. The idea of bringing money to the aid 
of our armies for the purpose o^ buying a peace from a nation like Mexico, 
could not fail to intiict a severe wound upon our national pride; while the 
lust of leriitoria! acquisition and aggrandizenient, which was ilnis plainlv 
betrayed, gave u deeper dye of injustice and rapine to the war into whicli 
we had been so recklessly plunged. 

No time was afforded us, however, for reflections or deliberations of any 
sort. The message was referred at once to the Committee of the Whole oa 
the slate of the Union, and a bill was forthwith originated in that commit- 
tee, under the lead of General McKay, of North Carolina, for placino- two 
millions of dollars at the unlimited discretion of the President. 

For tl»c debate upon this bill, two or three hours of a hot summer after- 
noon were grudgingly allowed by the Democratic majority in ihis House, 
and these two or three hours were divided ofl' into homffiopaihic portions of 
Jive minutes each. My honorable friend from New York, (Mr. Hugh 
White,) — thesenior member of the New York delegation, and who, I hope, 
will long remain here to enjoy the dignity of that position — obtained the 
floor for the first five minutes, and I was fortunate or unfortunate enough to 
follow hin). No amendment to the bill had then been adopted, aisd no 
proviso moved. But here is what 1 said on that occasion , as reported in ihe 
Naliutuil Intelligencer at the time: 

" Mr. Wi.vTHROp srtid that he should follow tlie example of hi.s friend from New York, (Mr 
White,) and confine liimself to a brief statement of his views, reserving; to himself the prKileee 
of amplifying and enforcing them hereafter. The Administration and it^s friends had thought tit 
during the present session to frame mure than one of their most important measures so 'as :i> 
leave then- opponents in a false position whicliever way they voted. There were two things 
which he had not imagined, in advance, that any circumstances could have constrained him io 
do, and from which he would gladly have been spared. One of them was to give a vote which 
nnight appear to lend an approving sanction to a war which had been caused by ilie annexation 
of Texas; the other was to give a vote whicli m.ight appear like an opposition to the earlies". 
restoration of peace, either with Mexico or any other Power on earth. Dut he must let appear- 
ances take care of tbem.selves. He was not here to pronounce opinions either upon the preamble 
of a bill or the phrases of a President's message. He was here to vote on substantial provisions 
of law, proposed with a view to their practical interpretation and execution. One of these votes 
he had given already, under circumstances which were ftimiliar to the House and to the country. 
He belicvetl it then, and he believed it now, upon the most deliberate reflection, to be the best 
vote of which the case admitted. And now, he greatly llured, that he was about to he compelled 
to give the other of these abhorrent voles. He could not and would not vote for this bill as it 
now stood. 

" What was the bill .= A bill* to place two millions of dollars at the dispoi?al of the President 
' for any extraordinary emergencies which might arise out of our intercourse with foreign na- 
tions.' Not a word about peace. Not a word about Mexico. Not 'a syllable about the dis- 
puted boundaries on the Rio Grande. It was a vote of unlimited confidence in an Administra- 



tion in which, he was sorry to say, there was very little confidence to be placed. They might 
employ this money towards buying California, or buynig Cuba, or buying Yucatan, or buying 
the Sandwich Islands, or buying any other territory ihey might fancy in either hemisphere. If 
we turned to tlie message of the Presidesit, it was hardly more satisfactory. Nothing could be 
more evident than that this appropriation was asked for as tiie earnest money for a purchase of 
more territory. The message expressly stated that it was to be used in part payment for any 
concessions which Mexico might make to us. The President already had the claims of our citi- 
zens to deal with, to the amount of three millions or more. Here were two millions more to be 
placed in his hand, in cash. What was to be the whole payment, for which five millions of dol- 
lars was wanted as an advance? And where was this territory to be ? The message, as if not 
willin'' to leave us wholly in the dark, had pointed expressly to the example of 1803— «o the pur- 
chase of Louisiana— and this very bill (as Mr. W. understood) had been copied reriaH7n from the 
act by which that purclia.se was indirectly sanctioned. The President has thus called upon us, 
in lano-uao-e not to be misunderstood, to sanction, in advance, a new and indefinite acquisition of 
southern Territory. To such an acquisition he (Mr. W.) was opposed. He had said heretofore, 
and he repeated now, that he was uncompromisingly opposed to extending the slaveholdmg ter- 
ritory of the Union. He wanted no more territory of any sort; but of this we had more than 

enough already. • , j . i . 

'^ He cordially responded to the President's desires to bring about a |ust and honorabie peace 
at the earliest moment. Nothing would give him more real satisfaction than to join in a mea- 
sure honestly proposed for that purpose. He did not grudge the payment of the two millions. 
He would appropriate twenty millions for the legitimate purposes of a treaty of peace without 
6 moment's hesitation. And he still hoped that this measure might assume a shape in which 
he could "ive it his support. Limit the discretion of the President to a settlement of those 
boundarie^s which have been the subject of dispute. Hold him to his solemn pledges, twice re- 
peated that he would be ready at all times to settle the existing differences beiween the two coun- 
tries on the most liberal terms. Give him no countenance in his design to lake advantage of the 
present war to force Mexico into the surrender, or even the sale, of any of her provinces. If 
any body wants a better harbor on the Pacific, let him wait till it can be acquired with less of 
national'dislionor. But whatever vou do or omit, give us at least to be assured that this appro- 
priation is not to be applied to the annexation of another Texas, or even to the purchase of 
another Louisiana." [Here the hammer fell.] 

This, Mr. Chairman, was my five minutes' speech on that memorable 
occasion. It was" brief as the posy of a hidy's ring;"— but if contained 
quite as much substance as some that are longer. It embraced three distinct 
ideas; 7??-si, that 1 was opposed to the continuance, as 1 had been to the 
conirnencement, of the war with Mexico, and that I was ready to vote for 
any amount of money which might be demanded for the legitimate pur- 
poses of negotiating a treaty of peace; second, that I desired no further ac- 
quisition of°terriiory on any side or of any sort; and third, that I was un- 
compromisingly opposed to extending the slaveholdiug territory of the 

Union. 

And in conformity with (his last view, when the honorable member fiom 
Pennsylvania [Mr. Wilmot] ot!*ered his celebrated /??oyi5o not long after- 
wards, 1 unhesitatingly voted for it. 

Sir, 1 have never regretted that vote; nor have I ever changed, in any 
degree, the opinions and the principles upon which it was founded. Again 
and again, I have reiterated those opinions and vindicated those principles; 
and as my consistency and steadfastness on this point have been artfully 
drawn into question in some quarters, 1 must be pardoned for a few cita- 
tions from speeches of my own, in which I have had occasion to allude to 
the subject, both in this Hou.se and elsewhere. 

Here, sir, in the tirst place, is an extract from a speech delivered by me 
in Faneuil Hall on the 23d day of September, 1846, hardly more than six 
weeks after the occasion which I have just described: 

" Sir, upon all ilie great points of this question, there is no difference of opinion whatever, 
AUa^ree thatthis war ought never to have been commenced. AUagree, that itoughtto be brought 
to a close at the earliest practicable moment. No man present denies that it originated, primari- 
ly in the annexation of Texas ; and secondarily, in the marching of the American army into 



the disputed territory beyond the Nueces. And no man present fails to deplore and to con- 
demn both of these measures. Nor is there a Whig in this assembly, nor, in ray opinion, a 
Whig- throughout the TTnion, who does not deprecate, from the bottom of his heart, any prose- 
cution of this war, for the purpose of aggression, invasion, or conquest. 

"This, tills is the matter, gentlemen, m wliicli we take the deepest concern this day. Where, 
7vhen, is this wnr to end, and what are to be its fruits? Unquestionably, we are not to forget that it 
takes two to make a bargain Unquestionably, we are not to forget, that Mexico must be will- 
ing to negotiate, before our own Government can be held wholly responsible for the failure of a 
treaty of peace. I rejoice, for one, that the Administration have shown what little readiness 
they have shown, for bringing the war to a conclu.sion. I have given them credit, elsewhere, for 
their original overtures last autumn; and I shall not deny them whatever credit they deserve for 
their renewed overtures now. But, Mr. President, it is not everything which takes the name 
or the form of an overture of* peace, which is entitled to respect as such. If it proposes unjust 
and unreasonable terms ; if it manifests an overbearing and oppressive spirit ; if it presumes on 
the power of those who make it, or on the weakness of those to whom it is offered, to exact 
hard and heartless conditions; if, especially, it be of a character at once offensive and injurious 
to the rights of one of the nations concerned, and to the principles of a large majority of the 
other; then it prostitutes the name of peace, and its authors are only entitled to the contempt 
which belongs to those who add hypocrisy lo injustice. 

" Mr. President, when the Pi-esident of the United States, on a .sudden and serious emergen- 
cy, demanded of Congress the means of meeting a war, into which he had already plunged the 
country, he pledged himself, in thrice repeated terms, to be ready at all times to settle the ex 
isting disputes between us and Mexico, whenever Mexico should be willing either to make or 
to receive propositions to that end. To that pledge he stands solemnly recorded, in the sight of 
God and of men. Now, sir, it was no part of our existing disputes, at that time, whether we 
should have possession of California, or of any other territory beyond the Rio Grande. And 
the President, in prosecuting plans of invasion and conquest, which look to the permanent ac- 
quisition of any such territories, will be as false to his own pledges, as he is to the honor and 
interests of his country. 

" I believe that I speak the sentiments of the whole people of Massachusetts — I know I 
speak my own — in saying that we want no more territorial possessions, to become the nurseries 
of new slave States. It goes hard enough with us, that the men and money of the nation should 
be employed for the defence of such acquisitions, already made ; but to originate new enter- 
prises for extending the area of slavery by force of arms, is revolting to the moral sense of 
•every American freeman. 

" Sir, I trust there is no man here who is not ready to stand by the Constitution of the coun- 
try. I trust there is no man here who is not v/illing to iiold fast to the union of the States, be 
its limits ultimately fixed a little on one side, or a little on the other side, of the line of his own 
choice. For myself, I will not contemplate the idea of the dissolution of the Union, in any 
conceivable event. There are no boundaries of sea or land, of rock or river, of desert or moun- 
tain, to which I will not try, at least, to carry out my love of country, whenever they shall really 
be the boundaries of my country. If the day of dissolution ever comes, it shall bring the evidence 
of its own irresistible necessity with it. I avert my eyes from all recognition of such a necessity 
in the distance. Nor am I ready for any political organizations or platforms less broad and com- 
prehensive than those which may include and uphold the whole Whig party of tlie United States. 
But all this is consistent, and shall, in my own case, practically consist, with a just sense of the 
evils of slavery; with an earnest opposition to everything designed to prolong or extend it; with 
a firm resistance lo all its encroachments on northern rights ; and above all, with an uncompro- 
mising hostility to all measures for introducing new slave States and new slave Territories into 
our Union." 

I come next, Mr. Chairman, to a speech deiiveied in this House on the 
"Sth of January, 1847, wlien I fount! it necessary to oppose the passage of a 
bill for raising an atldiiional military force. I think the bill was called, the 
Ten Regiment bill. 

On that occasion, afler alluding to the probable influence of the measure 
under consideration on the chances of a peace with Mexico, I proceeded to 
saj', as follows: 

"And where, too, is to be our domestic peace, if this policy is to be pursued 1 According to 
the President's plan of obtaining 'ample indemnity for the expenses of the war,' the longer the 
war lasts, and the more expensive it is made, the more territory we shall require to indemnify 
us. Every dollar of appropriation for this war is thus the purchase-money of more acres of 
Mexican soil. Who knows how much of Chihuahua, and Coahuila, and New Leon, and Du- 
rango, it will take to remunerate us for the expenses of these ten regiments of regulars, who 
are to be enlisted for five years' And to what end are we thus about to add acre to acre and 



10 

field to field? To furnish the subject cf thai p-cai domestic stniggle, w:iich lias already been fore- 
shadowed in this debate! 

Mr. Chairman, I have no time to discuss the subject of slavery on this occasion, nor should 
I desire to discuss it in this conneclion, if I had more time. But 1 must not omit a few plain 
words on the m.omentous issue which has now been raised. I speak for Massaciiusctts — I be- 
lieve I speak the sentiments of all New England, and of many other States out of New England, 
— when I say, that upon this question our minds are made up. So far as we have power — 
constitutional or moral power — to control political events, we are resolved that there shall be 
no further extension of the territory of this Union, subject to the institutions of slavery. 

"I believe the Nortii is ready to stand by the Constitution, with all its compromises, as if 
now is. 1 do not intend, moreover, to throw out any threats of disunion, vi'hatever may be the 
result. I do mn intend, now or ever, to contemplate disunion as a cure for any imaginable 
evil. At the sanie lime i do not intend to be driven from a firm expression of purpose, and a 
steadfast adherence to principle, by any threats of disunion from any other quarter. The peo- 
ple of New England, whom [ have an\? privilege to speak for, do not desire, as I understand' 
their views — i know my own heart and my own princi]iles, and can at least speak tor them — 
to gain one foot of territory by conquest, and as the result of the prosecution of the war with 
Mexico. I do not believe that even the abolitionists of the North — though I am one of the last 
persons who would be »iiiitled to speak their sentiments — would be unwilling to be found in 
combination with southern gentlemen, who may see fit to espouse this doctrine. We desire 
peace. We believe that this war o\i£:lit never to have been comtnenced, and we do not wish ta 
have it made the pretext for plundering: Mexico of one foot of her lands. But if the war is to- 
be prosecuted, and if territories are to be conquered and annexed, ws shall stand fast and for- 
ever to the principle that, so far as we are concerned, these territories shall be the exclusive 
abode of t'reemen. 

"Mr. Chairman, peace, peace is the grand compromise of this question between the North 
and the South. Let the President abandon all schemes of further conquest. Let him abandon 
his plans of pushine his forces to the heart of Mexico. Now, before any reverses have been 
experienced by the American arms, he can do so with the highest honor. Let him exhibit a 
spirit of magnamity towards a weak and distracted neighbor. Let him make distinct pro- 
clarnntion of the terms on which he is ready to negotiate; and let those terms be such as shall 
involve no injustice towards Mexico, and engender no sectional strife among ourselves. But, 
at all events, let him tell us what those terms are to be. A proclamation of Executive purposes 
is essential to any legislative or any national harmony. The North ought to know them 
the South ought to knovv- them ; the whole country ought to understand for what ends its blood 
and treasure are to be expended. It is high time that some specific terms of accommodation 
were proclaimed to Con::ress, to Mexico, and to the world. If they be reasonable, no man wilf 
hesitate to unite in supplying whatever means may be necessary for enforcing them." 

I come lastly, Mr. Chairman, to a speech which I made in this House 
on the 22cl of February, 1S4T, and from which I shall venture to quote a 
still longer extract. It was on (his occasion, sir, and in connec(ion with 
ihese remarks, that I offered to the hill then pending — whicli was a bill 
making an appropriation of nearly ihiriy-five millions of dollars for (he sin- 
gle item of supporiing the army — 3. proviso in the following words: 

''Provided, farther, That these appropriations are made with no view of sanctioning any pro- 
secution of the existing war with Mexico for the acquisition of territory to form new States to 
be added to the Union, or for the dismemberment in any way of the Republic of Mexico." 

That, sir, was my proviso. And if anybody shall ever deem my name 
worthy of being associated with any legislative proposition, I hope this one 
will not be forgotten. I am willing that it should be known in all time to 
come as the WirUlirop proviso. 

It was indeed almost identical with a resolution proposed in (he other 
branch of Congress, by an honorable Senator from Georgia, [ Mr. Bkrrien',] 
and it shared the same faie with his resolution. Every Whig member pre- 
sent at the time, except o7ie, voted in favor of its adop(ion. There were 
seventy-six Whigs in all, from all parts of the country, North and South, 
East and West, whose names are inscribed on the journals in favor of this 
proviso. But no Democrat voted for it; not one. And among the names 
of the one'hundred and (weniy-four Detnocrats who defeated it, may be 



11 

seen those of the honorable member from Pennsylvania, [Mr. Wilmot,] 
and of the honorable member from New York. [Mr. Preston King,] 
side Iiy side with those of the present Speaker of tins House. [Mr. Cobb,] 
of the present chairman of this committee, [3Ir. Boyd.] and of all the 
other Southern Democrats of ihe day. 

It was on this occasion, sir, that 1 expressed myself as follows: 

"Mr. Chairman, I have intimated on another occasion that I do not go so far as some of my 
friends in regard to the propriety or expediency of withholding ali supplies from the Executive. 
While a foreign nation is still in arms against us, I would limit the siifiplie.s to some reasonable 
scale of defence, and not withhold them altogether. I would pay for all services of regulars or 
volunteers already contracted for. I would provide ample means to prevent our army from 
suffering, whether from the foe or from famine, as long as they are in the field under constitu- 
tional authority. Heaven forbid that our gallant troops should be left to perish for want of sup- 
plies because they are on a foreign soil, while they are liaiile to be shot down by the command 
of their own officers if they refuse to remain there! But I cannot regard it as consistent with 
constitutional or republican principles to pass this bill as it now stands. Even if I approved the 
war, 1 should regard such a course of legislation as unwarrantable. Disapproving it, as I une- 
quivocally and unqualifiedly do, I am the more induced to interpose these objections to its adop- 
tion. 

"Sir, this whole Executive policy of overrunning Mexico to obtain territorial indemnities for 
pecuniary claims and the expenses of the war, is abhorrent to every idea of humanity and of 
honor. For one, I do not desire the acquisition of one inch of territory by conquest. I desire 
to see no fields of blood annexed to this Union, whether the price of the treachery by which 
they have been procured shall be three million pieces of silver or only thirty! I want no more 
ai-eas of freedom. Jlrea, if I remember right, signified thrashing-floor, in my old school diction- 
ary. We have had enough of these areas, whether of freedom or slavery; and I trust this war 
will be brought to a close without multiplying or extending them. 

"I repeat this the more emphatically, lest my vote in favor of the Three Million bill should be 
misinterpreted. Nothing was further from my intention, in giving that vote, than to sanction 
the policy of the Executive in regard to the territories of Mexico. If he insists, indeed, nn pur- 
suing that policy, and if a majority of Congress insist on giving him the means, I prefer pur- 
chase to conquest; and had rather aulliorize the expenditure of three millions to pay Mexico, 
than of thirty millions to whip her. But everybody must have understood that the prav'iso was 
a virtual nullification of the bill, for any purpose of acquiring territory, in the hands of a south- 
ern administration. 

" It was for thm proiriso that 1 voted. I wished to get the great principle which it embodied 
fairly on the statute-i)ook. I believe it to be a perfecUy constitutional principle, and an emi- 
nently conservative principle. 

"Sir, those who undertake'to dispute the constitutionality of that principle must rule out of 
•existence somethino; more than the immortal ordinance of 1787. My honorable friend from 
South Carolina (Mr. Burt) reminded us the other day, that Mr. Madison, in the Federalist, 
had cast some doubt on the authority of the Confederation Congress to pass that ordinance. He 
did so; but with what view, sir.' Not to bring that act into discredit, but to enforce upon the 
people of the United States the importance of adopting a new system of government, under 
which such acts might henceforth be rightfully done. This new system of government was 
adopted. The Consiitution was established. In the very terms of that Constitution is found a 
provision recognising the authority of Congress to prevent the extension of slavery after a cer- 
tain number of years "in the existing States," and to prevent i/s introdmclion into the len-ilories 
immediately. What more? During the first session of the first Congress of the United States, 
under this new Consiitution, tliis same Northwestern ordinance, with its anti-slavery clause, 
was solemnly recognised and reenacted. This is a faci never before noticed to my knowledge, 
and one lo which I be^ the attention of the House. Here is the eighth act of the first session of 
the first Congress. Listen to the preamble : 

" 'Whereas in order that the ordinance of the United States, in Congress assembled, for the 
government of the territory northwest of the river Ohio, jnay continue to have full effect, it is requi- 
site that certain provisions should be made, so as to adapt the same to tiie present Constitution 
of the United States : 

" 'jBe it enacted,' &c. 

"Then follow a few forinal changes in regard to the governor and other officers. The sixth 
article of the ordinance remains untouched. Mr. Madison was a member of this first Congress, 
as were many others of those rnosl distinguislied in framing tiie new Constitution. And this 
bill passed both branches without objection and without any division, except upon some imma- 
terial amendments. 

" Here, then, we find the very framers of the Constitution themselves, in tiie first year of its, 
adoption, applying the principle of the WUir.ot proviso to all the teriitor'ies v/tuch tl;e General 



12 

Government then possessed, without compromi.se as to latitude or longitude. These territo- 
ries were as much the fruit of the common sacrifices, common toils, and common blood of all 
Ihe States, as any which can be conquered from Mexico. They were the joint nnd common 
property of the several States. The ordinance was unanimou.sly adopted in 1787, and was 
reenacted unanimously in 1789. Madi.son, who had questioned the authority of the Congress 
of the Confederation to pass it originally, voted for it himself in the Congress of the Constitu- 
tion, and all his colleagues from the slaveholding States voted for it with him. Sir, if the con- 
stimtionality of such an act can now be disputed, I know not what principle of the Constitution 
can be considered as settled. 

" I have said that I regarded this principle as eminently conservaiive, as well a.s entirely con- 
stitutional. I do believe, sir, that whenever the principle of this proviso shall be irrevocably 
established, shall be considered as unchangeable as the laws of the Mede.'^and Persians, then, 
and not till then, we shall have permanent peace with other countries, Bnd ii.Ked boundaries for 
our own country. It is plain that there are two parties in the free States. Both of them are 
opposed — uncompromi.^ingly opposed, as I hope and believe — to the extension (if slavery. One 
of them, however, and that the party of the present Administration, are for the widest exten- 
sion of territory, subject to the anti-slavery proviso. The other of them, and tha_l the party to 
which I have the honor to belong, are, as I believe, content with the Union as it is, desire no 
annexation of new States, and are utterly opposed to the pro.secution of this war for any pur- 
pose of dismembering Mexico. Between these two parties in the free States the South holds 
the balance of power. It may alway.s hold it. If now, therefore, it will join m putting an end 
to this war, and in arresting the march of conquest upon which our armies have entered, the 
limits of the Republic as well as the limits of slavery may be finally established. 

" It is in this view that I believe the principle of the Wilmot jiroviso to be the great conserva- 
tive principle of the day; and it is in this view that I desire to place it immuUibly upon our sta- 
tute books. The South has no cause to be jealous of such a movement from our side of the 
House. The South should rather welcome it — the whole country should welcome it — as an 
overture of domestic peace. 

■'Sir, much us I deplore the war in which we tire involved — deeply as I regret the whole 
policy of annexation — if the result of these measures should be to ingraft the policy of this pro- 
viso permanently and ineradicably upon our American system, 1 should regard it as a blessing 
cheajjly purchased. Good would, indeed, have been brought out of evil; and v/e should be 
almost ready to say with the great dramatist of old England — 
" ' If after every tempest comes such calm, 

Let the winds blov.' till they have wakened death.' 

" Yes, sir, in that event, in.stead of indulging in any more jeers and taunts upon the Lone 
S?.ar of Texas, we might rather hail it as the star of hope, and promise, and peace; and might 
be moved to apply to it the language of another great Engli.sh poet— 
" ' Fairest of stars! hut in the train of night, 
If rather thou belong'st not to the dawn.' 

" If we could at last lay down permanently the boundary of our Republic— if we could feel 
that we had extinguished forever the lust of extended dominion in the bosoms of the American 
people— if we could present that old god Terminus, of whom we have heard .such eloquent men- 
tion elsewhere, not with out-stretched arm still pointing to new territories in the distance, but 
with limbs lopped off. as the Romans sometimes represented him, betokening that he had 
reached his very furthest goal— if we could be assured that our limits were to" be no further 
advanced, either by purchase or conquest, by fraud or by forte— then, then we might feel that 
we had taken a bond of fate for the perpetuation of our Union. 

" It is in this spirit that I voted for the proviso in the Three Million bill. It is m this spirit 
that I offer the third proviso to the Thirty Million bill before us. Pass them both— cut off, by 
one and the same stroke, all idea both of the extension of slavery tuid the extension of terri- 
tory— and we shall neither need the three millions, nor the thirty millions, for .securing peace 
and harmony, both at home and abroad." 

Mr. Chairman, I know not but that 1 might be induced to abate some- . | 

thing of the ambitious rhetoric of these remarks, if I were making the I 

speech over again; but I do not desire to change one jot or tittle of their :<^. 

substantial matter. I adhere, this day, to all the sentiments and all the i 

principles of thai speech; and, so far as ihe}^ are applicable to the present t 

moioent and to existing circumstances, and so Air as may cotisisi with the 
paramomit duly which 1 owe to the peace and the nnion of my country, I 
intend to shape my course with a view of carrying them out to their prac- 
tical fulfilment. 



13 

1 have long ago made up my mind, l.hat, whatever prospect there may 
be of adjiisiing and reconciling the conflicting interests and claims of difl'er- 
ent portions of the Union, there is no prospect, and no possibiUty, of har- 
monizing their discordant opinions. Certainly, sir, neither labored argu- 
ments, nor heated appeals, nor angry menaces; neither threats of disorgani- 
zation here, nor of conventions elsewhere, have done anything towards ac-, 
complishing sncli a result, so far as I am concerned. 

I hold now, as 1 held three years ago, that it is entirely constitutional for 
Congress to apply the principles of the ordinance of 1T8T to any territory 
which may be added to the Union. 

I hold now, as I held then, that tiie South have no right to complain of 
such an application of these principles by tiiose of us wlio Ijiwe declared 
this doctrine in advance, and who have steadily opposed all acquisition of 
territory. 

I hold now, as I held then, that their reproaches and fulminaiions ought 
to be exclusively reserved for those among themselves, and for (heir allies 
in other parts of the country, who have persisted in bringing this lerrilory 
into the Union, with the distinct understanding that it was "^o fw?iis/i the 
subject of this g;rent domestic struggle.'''' 

1 hold now, loo, as I held then, that one of the greatest advantages of 
engiafting these principles unchangeably upon our national policy, would 
be to extinguish the spirit of atinexation and conquest in the region where 
we all must acknowledge that it has ever been most rife, and thus to secure 
iox US '^permanent peace with other countries, and fixed boundaries for 
our otvn country .'''' 

Do you remember, Mr. Chairman, that old classical dialogue between 
Pyrrhus, the King of Epirus, and his eloquent counsellor, Cineas? Pyr- 
rhus, we are told, in disclosing his plans of governnient, had slated his 
purpose of subjeciing Italy to his sway; when Cineas asked, ''And having 
overcome the Romans, what will your majesty do next?" " *Vhy, Sicily," 
said the King, "is next door to Italy, and it will be easy to subdue that." 
''And having got possession of Sicily," said the counsellor, "what next 
will be your royal pleasure?" "I have a mind, then," said Pyrrhus, "to 
pass over into Africa." "And what after that?" said Cineas. "Why then, 
at last, we will give ourselves up to quiet, and enjoy a delightful peace." 
"'But what," rejoined the wise and sagacious counsellor, "what prevents 
you from enjoying that quiet and that delightful peace now?" 

I can conceive such a dialogue passing between one of our late American 
Presidents and some confidential friend or Cabinet adviser. "I have a mind 
to annex Texas." "And what will you do next?" "Why, Mexico is 
next door to Texas, and it will be easy to subject her to our arms." '-And 
having conquered Mexico, and taken possession of such of her provinces as 
you desire, what next does your excellency propose?" "I think we shall 
then be ready for passing over to Cuba." "And what afier thai?" Why, 
then, we will devote ourselves to peace, and enjoy a quiet life." "And 
why, why — it might well have been asked — should you not enjoy that 
peace and quiet now? Why will you persist in disturbing the quiet, and 
perilling the peace, and putting in jeopardy the glorious Union, you now 
enjoy, by rushing into so wild, so wanton, and, I had almost said, so wicked 
a policy?" 

Sir, it is not to be denied that it is this spirit of annexation and conquest. 



14 

growing by what it feeds on, which has involved us in all our present, trou- 
bles, and which threatens us with still greater troubles in future. We are 
reaping the natural and just results of the annexation of Texas, and of the 
war which inevitably followed that annexation. We have almost realized, 
(as I believe I have somewhere else said,) the fate of the greedy and rave- 
nous bird in the old fable. Ji^sop tells us of an eagle, which, in one of its 
towering flights, seeing a bit of tempting flesh upon an altar, pounced upon 
it, and bore it away in triumph to its nest. But, by chance, he adds, a coal 
of fire from the altar was slicking to it at the time, which set fire to the nest 
and consumed it in a trice. And our American eagle, sir, has been seen 
stooping from its pride of place, and hovering over the altars of a weak 
neighboring power. It has at last pounced upon her provinces, and borne 
them away from her in triumph. But burning coals have clung to them! 
Discord and confusion have come with them! And our own American 
homestead is now threatened with conflagration! 

This, Mr. Chairman, is the brief history of our condition. 1 trust in 
heaven that the lesson will not be lost upon us. Gentlemen talk of settling 
the whole controversy which has been kindled between the North and the 
South by some sweeping compromise, or some comprehensive plan of re- 
conciliation. I hope that the controversy will be settled, sir; but 1 most 
earnestly hope and pray, that it will not so be settled, that we shall ever be 
in danger of forgetting its origin. I hope and pray that it will not so be 
settled, that we shall ever again imagine, that we can enter with impunity 
on a career of aggression, spoliation, and conquest! This embittered strife, 
this protracted suspense, these tedious days and weeks and months of anx- 
iety and agitation, will have had their full compensation and reward, if they 
shall teach us never again to forget the curse which has been pronounced 
upon those ''who remove their neighbors' land-marks;" — if they shall teach 
us to realize, in all time to come, that a policy of peace and justice towards 
others, is the very law and condition of our own domestic harmony and our 
own national Union! 

And now, Mr. Chairman, how is the great controversy by which our 
country is agitated, to be settled? 

In the first place, sir, I do not believe that it is to be settled by multiply- 
ing and accumulating issues. I have no faith in the plan of raking open 
all the subjects of disagreement and difl'erence which have existed at any 
time between different sections of the country, with a view of attempting 
to bring them within the influence of some single jj a nacea . Certainly, sir. 
if such a plan is to be attempted, we are not to forget that there are two 
sides to the question of aggression. The Southern States complain, on the 
one side, that some of their runaway slaves have not been delivered up by 
the free States, agieeably to the provisions of the Constitution of the United 
States. The Northern Stales complain , on the other side , that some of their 
freemen have been seized and imprisoned in the slave States, contrary lo 
the provisions of the same Constitution. I was, myself, called upon some 
years ago, by the merchants and ship-owners of Boston — as patriotic a body 
of men as can be found on the face of this continent, and whose zeal for 
liberty is not less conspicuous than their devotion to Union — to bring this 
latter subject to the attention of Congress. I made a report upon it to this 
House in 1843, in which, among other remarks, I used the following lan- 
guage: 



15 

"That American or foreign seamen, charged witli no crime, and infected with no contagion, 
should be searched for on board the vesselslo which they belong; should be seized while m the 
discharge of their duties, or, it may be, while asleep in their berths; should be dragged on 
shore and incarcerated without any other examination than an examination of their skins; and 
«hould Ije rendered liable, in certain contingencies, over which they may have no possible con- 
trol to be subjected to the ignominy and agony of the lash, and even to the infinitely more ig- 
nominious and agonizing fate of being sold into slavery for life, and all for purposes of pnHce— 
is an idea too monstrous to be entertained for a moment:" 

Now, sir, I will not untJertake to compare the two grievances to which I 
have ihns alluded. But this I do say, that if the one is to be insisted on as 
a subject for immediate redress and reparation,! see not why the other 
should not be also. For myself, I acknowledge my allegiance to the whole 
Constitution of the United Stales, and I am willing to unite in fulfilHng 
and enforcing, in all reasonable and proper modes, every one of its provis- 
ions. T recognise, indeed, a Power above all human law-makers, and a 
Code above atl earthly constitutions! And whenever I perceive a plain con- 
flict of inrisdiction and authority between the Constitution of my country 
and the laws of my God , my course is clear. I shall resign my office , what- 
ever it may be, and renounce all connection with public service of any .sort. 
Never, never, sir, will 1 put myself under the necessity of calling upon 
God to witness my promise to support a constitution, any part of which I 
consider to be inconsistent with his commands. 

But it is a libel upon the Constitution of the United States — and, what 
is worse, sir, it is a libel upon the great and good men who framed , adopted, 
and ratified it; it is a libel upon Washington, and Franklin, and Hamilton, 
and Madison, upon John Adams, and John Jay, and Rufus Kin^g; it is a 
hbel upon them all, and upon the whole American people of 1T89, who 
sustained them in their noble work; and upon all who, from that lime to 
this, generation after generation, in any capacity. National, Municipal, or 
State, have lifted their hands to heaven, in attestation of their allegiance to 
the Government of their country— it is a gross libel upon every one of them, 
10 assert or insinuate that there is any such inconsistency! Let us not do 
such dishonor to the Fathers of the "Republic, and to the Framers of the 
Constitution. It is a favorite policy, I know, of some of the ultraistsin my 
own part of the country, to stigmatize the Constitution of the United Stales 
as d. pro-slavery compact. I deny it, sir. I hold, on the other hand, that 
it is i\ pro-liberty compact — the niost effective pro-liberiy compact which the 
world has ever seen. Magna Charta not excepted— and one which every 
friend to liberty— human liberty, or political liberty— ought steadfastly to 
maintain and support. 

"To secure ihe blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,"— this 
was the grand climax in that enumeration of its objects which constitutes 
its well-remembered preamble. This was the object for which it was avow- 
edly, and for which it was really framed; and this is the object which it has, 
in fact, beyond all other instruments, advanced and promoted. 

The Convention which framed that instrument found African slavery, in- 
deed, a fixed fact upon our soil; and some of the provisions which they 
adopted, had undoubted and admitted reference to that fact. But what is 
the legitimate interpretation of these provisions? It is a remark, I think, as 
old as*Epictetus,that everything has two handles; and it is as true of these 
provisions as of everything else, that we must take hold of them by the 
right handle, in order to understand their true design. 



16 

We are told that the Constitution encouraged slavery by providing for 
ihe toleration of the African slave-trade for twenty years. In my judgment, 
sir; it should rather be said, that the Constitution struck a strong, and, as its 
framers undoubtedly believed , a fatal blow at slavery, by securing to the 
Federal Government the power, which it never before possessed, to prohibit 
that trade at the end of twenty years. 

We are told, that it encouraged slavery, by making it the basis of repre- 
sentation in this House. In my judgment, it should rather be said, that it 
discouraged slavery , by taking away two-iifths of that representation to which 
the southern States would have been entided on their black population , if 
that population had been a wholly free population. 

We are told that it encouraged slavery, by providing for the suppression 
of insurrections. But every body knows, that this provision had as much 
reference to insurrections in the free States as m the slave States; and that, 
in pomt of fact, it was Shay's rebellion in Massachusetts, which, being 
in progress at the very period when the Constitution was under considera- 
tion, gave an immediate impulse to the movement by which the power of 
interfering in such cases was conferred on the Federal Government. 
"Among the ripening incidents," said Mr. Madison, in his account of the 
circmustances which led to the adoption of the Constitution, "was the in- 
surrection of Shay, in Massachusetts, against liar government, which was 
with difficulty suppressed, notwithstanding the influence on the insurgents 
of an apprehended interposition of the Federal troops." 

We are told, finally; that the Constiiution encouraged slavery, by a pro- 
vision for ilie surrender of persons -'held to service or labor." Now, sir, 
even this provision ful'.ils ihe suggestion which was made by Mr. Madi- 
son at (he time the Constitution was framed, and "avoids the idea that 
there can be property in man." It demands of us only a recognition of 
Ihe admitted and familiarfact,thai that there may be property in "the service 
or labor" of man. It provides for the restoration of all runaways alike, 
v^hite or black, who may be "held to service or labor" for life or for years, 
as indented apprentices or otherwise, in any part of the country, precluding 
all right on tlie pa.t of any of the Stales to inquire, for any purpose of dis- 
crimination , in regard to fugitives from other States, by what tenure, of tem- 
porary contract or of hereditary bondtige, they are held to such "service or 
labor." If by some emancipation act, like that which was adopted many 
years ago by Great Britain in reference to her West India colonies, the 
slaves in our southern Stales should be converted into apprentices for a 
term of years, this article of the Constitution would be as applicable to that 
state of things, as it is to the slate of things now existing. It has no neces- 
sary or exclusive relation to the existence of slavery. But taking it, as it 
was unquestionably intended, as a provision for the restoration of slaves, 
as long as slavery shall exist, is there enough in this clause of ihe Consti- 
tution to justify any one in branding that instrument with the abhorrent 
title of a pro-slavery compact^ 

Sir, the Constitution is to be considered and judged of as a whole. The 
provisions which relate to the same subject-matter, certainly, are to be ex- 
amined together, and compared with each other, m order to obtain a just 
interpretation of its real character and intent. Lei ihis clause, then, be 
taken in connection with that which has authorized and effected the anni- 



17 

hilation of the African slave trade, as a lawful trade, from any part of this 
vast American Union. Let the few cases in which individual fugitives may 
be remanded to their captivity, in conformity with one of these provisions, 
be compared with the countless instances in which whole shiploads of free- 
men would have been torn from their native soil and transported into sla- 
very, but for the other; and then tell me what is the just designation of the 
compact which contains them both! Suppose, sir, for a moment, that the 
framers of the Constitution had resolved to ignore the existence of slavery 
altogether; suppose that the idea, which I have sometimes heard suggested 
as a desirable one, had been adopted by them at the outset, and that all the 
pre-existing rights of the States in regard to slavery and all its incidents had 
been left unrestricted and unaltered; would that have better subserved the 
great cause of human liberty? We should have had, indeed, no fugitive 
slave clause. But for every slave who made his escape, we should have 
had a hundred slaves, freshly brought over from Africa, Brazil, or the West 
Indies, as long as there was a foot of soil on which they could be profitably 
employed; and every one of them must have been counted, not as three- 
fifths^ but as a whole man, to swell the basis of that representation by 
which the slave interest would have been rendered predominant forever in 
our land! 

Undoubtedly, Mr. Chairman, there are provisions in the Constitution 
which involve us in painful obligations, and from which some of us would 
rejoice to be relieved, and this is one of them. But there is none, none, in 
ray judgment, which involves any conscientious or religious ditiiculty. I 
know no reservation, equivocation, or evasion, in the oath which 1 have so 
often taken to support that Constitution; and whenever any measure is 
proposed to me for fulfilling or enforcing any one of its clear obligations or 
express stipulations, I shall give to it every degree of attention, considera- 
tion, and support, which the justice, the wisdom, the propriety, and the 
practicability of its peculiar provisions may demand or warrant. In legis- 
lating, however, for the restoration of Southern slaves, I shall not/orget the 
security of Northern freemen. Nor, in testifying my allegiance to what has 
been termed the Extradition clause of the Constitution, shall I overlook 
those great fundamental principles of all free governments — the Habeas 
Corpus and the Trial by Jury. 

But I repeat, Mr. Chairman, that I am for giving a separate and inde- 
pendent consideration to separate and independent measures. I am for 
dealing with present and pressing difficulties by themselves, and for acting 
upon others afterwards as they arise. 

The great questions, which demand out consideration at this moment, 
are these which relate to our new territorial acquisitions; and to them, and 
them alone, I am now for devoting myself. And the first of these questions 
is that which relates to California. 

What is California? But yesterday, sir, it was a colony in embryo. 
But yesterday — to use the language which Mr. Burke once applied to Amer- 
ica — it was -'a little speck, scarce visible in the mass of national interest; 
a small seminal principle, rather than a formed body." To-day, it presents 
itself to us an established Commonwealth, and is knocking at our doors for 
admittance to the Union as a free and independent Slate. Shall it be 
turned away? Shall it be remanded to its colonial condition? Shall we at- 



18 

tempt to crowd back this full-grown man into the cradle of infancy? And 
thai, too. in spite of the express provisions of the treaty by which it was 
acquired, ''that it shall be admitted to the Union as speedily as possible?" 

Upon what pretence shall such a step be taken? Is it said that there 
has been some violation of precedents in her preparatory proceedings? 
Where will you find a precedent in any degree applicable to her condi- 
tion? When has such a case been presented in our past history? When 
may we look for another such in our future progress? ''Who hath heard 
such a thing? Who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to 
bring forth in one day? Or sliall a nation be born at once?" 

Is it said that she has not population enougii? The best accounts which 
we can obtain estimate her population at more than a hundred thousand 
souls; and these, be it remembered, are nearly all full-grown persons, and 
a vast majority of them men, and voters. And what, after all, are any es- 
liniates of population worth, in such a case? As the same great British 
orator, whom I have just quoted, said of the American colonies in 1775: 
"Suci> is the strength with which population shoots in that part of the 
world, tnat, state I lie numbers as high as we will, whilst the dispute con- 
tinues, the exaggeration ends. Whilst we are discussing any given mag- 
nitude, ihe}^ are grown to it." 

Is it said that Iier boundaries are too extensive? You did not find this 
fault with Texas. Texas, with the boundaries which are claimed by her^ 
has three hundred and twenty-five thousand five hundred and twenty 
square miles; and, with any boundaries which are likely to be asssigned 
!o her, she will have more than two hundred thousand square miles. Cali- 
fornia, under her own Constitution, has but one hundred and fifty-five 
tljousand five hundred and fifty square miles of territory, of which one- 
half are mere mountains of rock and ice, and another quarter a desert 
waste! 

Do you complain of the length of her sea-coast? You did not find this 
fault with Florida, whose sea-coast and gulf coast together, (if 1 am not 
greatly mistaken,) is more than one-third longer than that of California. 
And where will you divide the great valley of the Sacramento and San 
Joaquin, without the greatest injury and injustice to those who dwell in it? 
And for what will you divide it, except to make two free States, where 
only one is now proposed, and thus to double the cause of Southern jealousy 
and sectional opposition? 

I declare to you, sir, that, in my judgment, if any fault is to be found 
with the dimensions of California, it is to be found by the free States, who 
might reasonably look to have two States, instead of one, added to their 
number, from so vast a territory. 

Is it said that her constitution has been cooked! Who cooked it? That 
her people have been tampered with? Who tampered with them? As has 
been truly said, we have a Southern President and a majority of Southern 
men in the Cabinet; and they sent a Southern agent — a Georgia member 
of Congress — a gentleman, let me say, for whose character and conduct I 
have the highest respect — to bear their despatches and communicate their 
views to the California settlers. 

Is it said that these settlers are a wild, reckless, floating population, bent 
only upon digging gold, and unworthy to be trusted in establishing a gov- 
ernment? Sir, I do not believe a better class of emigrants was ever found 



19 

flocking in such numbers to any new settlement on ttie face of the earth. 
The immense distance, the formidable diflBcullies, and the onerous expense 
of the pilgrimage to California, necessarily confined the emigration to men 
of some pecuniary substance, as well as to men of more than ordinary 
physical endurance. We have all seen going out from our own respect- 
ive neighborhoods, not a few hardy, honest, industrious, patriotic young 
men, 

" Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs, 
To make a hazard of new fortunes tliere;" 

and, in their name, sir, I protest against the constitution which they have 
adopted being condemned on any score of its paternity. 

Is it said, finally, Mr. Chairman, as a ground for rejecting California, 
that she has prohibited slavery in her constitution? No, no, sir; nobody 
will venture to urge that as an objection to her admission into the American 
Union. Even those who would willingly have had it otherwise, must be 
glad in their own hearts, whether they confess it or not, that she has settled 
that question for herself; that she has saved us from tlie difiiculties and dan- 
gers which would have attended an attempt to settle it for her here. While 
some of us will go still further, and; without intending any oflfence to others, 
will thank God openly, that this infant Hercules of the West has strangled 
the serpents in the cradle; that this youthful giant of the Pacific presents 
himself to us self-dedicated to freedom; and stands a self-pledged and self- 
posted sentinel — side by side with Oregon — against the introduction of 
slavery, by sea or by land, into any part of that trans-Alpine territory! Had 
it been otherwise, sir, and had the soil and climate proved in any degree 
favorable, who can tell what renewal of the horrors of the middle passage 
might have been witnessed, in transporting slaves under the American flag 
into regions so remote and difficult of access! 

"But what is to become of our equilibrium')'''' says an honorable friend 
from South Carolina or Alabama. " What security are the Southern States 
to have against the growing prepondeiance of Northern power." 

Mr. Chairman, half the troubles which have convulsed the old world for 
two centuries past, have grown out of an imagined necessity of preserving 
(he balance of power, or maintaining what is now denominated a sectional 
equilibrium. And so it will be here. The very idea of this equilibrium is 
founded on views of sectional jealousy, sectional fear, sectional hostility and 
hate. It pre-supposes an encroaching and oppressive spirit on one side or 
the other, which waits only for the power and the opportunity to make itself 
felt; and, depend upon it. sir, it will produce the veiy state of things which 
it supposes. But no such slate of things exists now. 

Nothing, certainly, can be more unfounded than the idea, that the North 
has any hostility to the South; or that Northern men, as a class, are desir- 
ous of injuring, or even of irritating, their Southern brethren. They know 
that the interests of all parts of the country are bound up together in the 
same bundle of life or death, for the si\me good or evil destiny, and that no 
one member of the Confederacy can sufi'er without the whole body suflTer- 
ing with it <■' U7ium et coDWiune periclum; una salus.'" They desire — 
from a mere selfish interest of their own, if you will have it so— the pros- 
perity and welfare of the Southern States, and rejoice at every indication of 
their increasing wealth and power. They believe, indeed, that the worst 
enemy of these Stales, is that which they cherisk so jealously and so pas- 



•20 

sionaiely wi(hin their own bosom. They believe slavery lo have origiiiaied 
in a monstrous wrong. They believe its continuance to be a great evil. 
Tiiey are, undoubtedly, of opinion, that in this day of civilization and 
Christianity, it would well become those who are responsible for its contin- 
uance, to be looking about at least for some prospective and gratlual system 
by which, at some far distant, if not at some earlier day, it may be brought 
to an end. They are ready, as I believe, to bear their share of the cost and 
sacrifice of any such system. But (hey know that they themselves have no 
power over the subject. They acknowledge, that so far as slavery in the 
States is concerned, ilicy possess no constitutional right to interfere with it 
in any way whatever. If there be any thing upon which the wiiole North is 
united, and in which men of all parties, of all professions, of all condi- 
tions, agree, it is in recognising, in clear and unmistakable characters, as to 
slavery within the States, a constitutional prohibition of interference. 

But, Mr. Chairman, this idea that a free vState is never to be admitted to 
the Union without a slave State to match it, is, in my judgment, as imprac- 
ticable as it is unjustifiable. We shall have lo enter upon a fresh career of 
annexation and conquest to carry it out — if it is to be carried out at all. 
When Texas shall have been exhausted by the admission of the two or 
jhree more slave States, which it has been so strongly contended that we 
have already stipulated lo admit, you will have to go farther and farther 
South to find fresh material to manufacture slave States out of, for the sake 
of equilibrium. 

Waller Scott, in one of his inimitable essays, under the sobriquet of 
Malachi Malagrowther, tells us of a castle of the olden time, liie steward of 
which had such a passion for regularity , that when a poacher, or a rogue of 
any sort, was caught and put in the pillory on one side of the gate, he gave 
half a crown to an honest laborer to stand in the other pillory opposite to 
him! This, sir, was all io\ uniformity's sake, and to preserve the equilib- 
rium. And we shall have to adopt a similar course, if this idea of equilib- 
rium is to be adopted; we shall be called on systematically to plant slavery 
rjpon free soil, if not to put manacles upon free men, for uniformity's sake. 

Sir, you did not wait for a free State to come in hand-in-hand with Texas. 
You regarded no principles of equilibrium or uniformity on that occasion. 
You brought her in to disturb the equilibrimii then existing, and to secure 
for the South a preponderance in at least one branch of the Government. 
And with this example in our immediate view, the North, the free States, 
cannot but feel aggrieved, if the admission of California is to be made in 
any degree dependent upon considerations of this sort. We do not say that 
she has an absolute right to be admitted to-day or to-morrow. I?ut we do 
say, that a rejection or a postponement of her admission, on mere grounds 
of sectional equilibrium, would be an offence without either provocation or 
justification. 

And now, sir, entertaining such views, I need hardly add that, in my 
judgment, California ought to be admitted to the Union without more delay, 
as a separate, independent measure. I am opposed to any scheme for qual- 
ifying or coupling it with other arrangements. I am opposed to all omnibus 
bills, and all amalgamation projects. It is unjust to California to embarrass, 
and perhaps peril, her admission, by mixing her up wMth matters of a con- 
iTOverted character. It is still more unjust to a large majority of this House, 



21 

who desire to record their names distinctly for her admission as a Stale, to 
deny iheni the proper, legitimate, parliamentary mode of doing so, by an- 
nexing 10 the same bill provisions against which not a lew of them are 
solemnly pledged. What would Southern gentlemen say, if we were wan- 
tonly to insist" on inserting a VVilmol proviso in ihe California bill? Lei 
ihen'i forbear to leach us bloody instructions, which may return to plague 
the inventor. The ingredients of the poisoned chalice may yet be com- 
mended to their own lips. Let them remember, that there may be a i)oint 
of honor at the North as well as at the South. Let them remember, that 
the same voice of patriotism which cries to the North "give up," says to 
tiie South also, "keep not back." Let them reflect, how far if is generous 
towards those Northern members who have consented thus far to waive any 
struggle for the proviso, to drive (hem to the odious aliernalive of rejecting 
what they desire to adopt, or of adopting what tliey may feel constrained to 

reject. , . 

And now, sir, turning from California, what remains? New Mexico and 
Deseret or Utah. And what are we to do with them? Nothing, nothing, 
I reply, which shall endanger the harmony and doiriesiic peace of these 
United States. 

Undoubtedly, Mr. Chairman, my own honest impulse and earnest dispo- 
sition would be to organize territorial governments over both of them,j\nd 
to engraft upon those governments the principles of the orduiance of 1TS7. 
If I were consulting only my own feelings, or what 1 believe to be the 
wishes and views of the people of New England, this would be my unhesi- 
tatinir course. Though Ijelieving, as I do, that the laws of Mexico, abol- 
ishing slavery, arc still in force there, 1 would yet make assurance doubly 
sure,*and take u bond of fate against the innoduciion of slavery into any 
territory where it does not already exist. 

But,' sir, I am not for overturning the government of my country, or for 
running any risk of so disastrous a result, in order to accomi)lish this object, 
in the precise mode which would be most satisfactory to myself. No, sir; 
nor would I press such a course pertinaciously upon Congress, even al- 
though the consecpiences should be nothing more serious than to plant a 
sting°iu the bosoms of the people of the South, or to leave an impression ia 
thei° minds that they had been wronged and humiliated by the Govern- 
ment of their own country. 

1 hold to the entire eqt^ialitv of all the citizens of this Republic, and of 
all the States of this Union*. And while 1 wholly deny that the course 
whicl) I have suggested would in any degree infringe upon this equality, 
while I can by no means adhiit that a prohibition of slavery in the territories 
would encroach a hair's breadth upon the just rights of the Southern States 
or the Southern people, 1 would yet willingly and gladly forbear from any 
unnecessary act which could even give color to such an idea. So far as my 
own sense of duty will allow me to go, or to forbear from going, it shall 
never be my fault, if any human being in this wide-spread Republic shall 
even imagine that he has beeti injured or assailed either in his person, his 
property, or his feelings. 

What, then, am I ready to do? Sir, I have already expressed my inten- 
tion to stand by the President's plan on this subject; and nothing has since 
occurred to change that intention. I have heard this plan stigmatized as n 



22 

weak and coniempuble plaij; bull believe it to be a wise and a patriotic plau, 
and one which, whether it succeeds or fails, will have entitled the Presi- 
dent to the unn)ingled respect and gratitude of the American people. 

My honorable friend from New York [Mr. Duer] has anticipated me in 
most of the views which I had intended to take of this plan, and 1 should 
only weaken their impression by presenting them over again. But I can- 
not forbear dwelling for a moment upoti a single consideration connected 
with it. 

The President in his annual message, after slating his belief that ''the 
people of New Mexico would, at no very distant day, present themselves 
for admission into the Union." says as follows: 

" By awaiting their action, all causes of uneasiness may be avoided, and confidence and kind 
feeling preserved. With <,\view of maintaining the harmony and tranquillity so dear to all, we 
should abstain from the nuroduciion of those exciting topics of a sectional character which have 
hitherto produced painful apprehensions in the public mind; and I repeal the solemn warning of 
the first and most illustrious of my predecessors against furnishing 'any ground for character- 
izing parties by geographical discriminations.' '' 

Again, in liis message of January 21, communicating his views in more 
detail upon the subject before us, he says: 

"No material inconvenience will result from the want, for a short period, of a government 
established by Congress over that part of the territory which lies eastward of the new State of 
California; and the^easons for my opinion, that New Mexico will at no very distant period 
ask for admission into the Union, are founded on unofficial information, which I suppose is com- 
mon to all who liave cared to make inquiries on tltat subject. 

"Seeing, then, that the question which now e.\:cites such painful sensations in the country, 
will in the end certainly be settled by the silent effect of causes independent of the action of Con- 
gress, I again submit to your wisdom the policy recommended in my annual mcs.sage, of await- 
ing the salutary operation of those causes, believing that we shall thus avoid the creation of 
geographical parties, and secure the harmony of feeling so necessary to the beneficial action of our 
political system." 

This, sir, is the great beauty, the crowning grace of the President's pro- 
position. His is, in my judgment, the only plan which gives a triumph to 
neither side of this controversy, and to neither section of the Union, and 
which, thus, leaves no just preience for the formation of geographical par- 
ties. 

The passage of what has been called the Wilmot proviso would, we all 
understand, under present circumstances, unite the .South as one man, and 
if it did not actually rend the Union asunder, would create an alienation 
and aversion in that quarter of the country, which would render the Union 
hardly worth preserving. 

On the other hand, sir, I caimot suppress my apprehensions, that the or- 
ganization of territorial governments by Congress without any anti-slavery 
clause, would only transfer the agitation and indignation to the other end of 
the Republic, and would tend freshly to inilame a spirit which we all de- 
sire, and which Souihem men, especially, cannot fail to desire, to see for- 
ever extinguished. 

Mr. Chairman, there must be something of reciprocity in any arrange- 
ment by which this question is to be settled. But I can see none— none 
whatever in the plan of admitting California, crganizing the two territo- 
lies without condition, and setiling the boundaries of Texas, as proposed in 
the same bill. What concession does the South make in such an arrange- 
ment? The admission of California? I cannot admit that there is any con- 
cession in that. If there be any objections to the admission of California, 



23 

ihey are uaiional ami not sectional in ilieir character, arising out of irregu- 
larities in her prepaialory proceedings, and not out of the substantial provi- 
sions of her consiiiuiion. And yet, in consideration of this admission, the 
North is called on not luerely to waive any anti-slavery action in regard to- 
two territories, but lo sanction, as I understand ii, the positive introduction 
of slavery where the South itself has already prohibited it. By the resolu- 
tions of annexation, all of Texas above 36° 30' is lo be free soil; bui, by 
this plan, we are to purchase all this, and iniiie it to New Mexico, and then 
abrogate the prohibition! 

Sir, the true groinid for conciliation is the middle ground, on which both 
sides can meet without the abandonitunit of any principle, or the .sacrifice 
of any point of honor. .Such, in my judgtnent. is the giomul upon which 
the Piesidf^nt bus planted himself; and I cannot hesitate to express my be- 
lief, that if party feelings had never entered iiUo this tpiestion; if tlicst; per- 
nicious and poisonous elements could have been eliminated from the con- 
troversy in which we are engaged, the great mass of the American people;,, 
from the Soiith and from the North, from the West and from the East, 
would have been found rallying round the Executive upon this precise 
ground; anci settling all their diOerences in harmony and concord. 

Tell me not t!iat New Mexico and Deseret may "be left a little while lon- 
ger without a government by such a course. Better that they should go- 
without a government forever, than that our own Ciovermnent should be- 
broken up! Better that they should be sundered from us eternally , than that 
they shotdd be instrumental in sundering us from each other! But no such 
alternative is involved in this policy. 'Fhe people who occupy those ter- 
ritories are capable of self-government , and no sooner shall we have finally 
announced to them this policy, than they will follow the example of Cali- 
fornia, and relieve us of all fmlher responsibilitv- 

Jt has been suggested in some quarters that the President has changed his 
position, and deserted his oiiginal platform. This is not the first time, sir, 
such a charge has been brought against General Taylor. The Mexicans pro- 
claimed that he had changetl his plan, and deserted his post, and fled from 
the defence of his friends, when he made that masterly ami matchless move- 
ment from Fort Brown to Point Isabel. But they discoveretl their error 
before many days were over, and found to their cost that liiey had mistak- 
en their man. I have not the slightest authority to speak for the Presi- 
dent; nor would it be parliamentary for me to do so, if I had; but I am 
strongly inclined to the belief, that those who imagine that he either has 
changed, or means to change, his views on this subject, will be equally dis- 
appointed. 

For myself, sir, I can trtdy say that I adopt this plan in a spirit of con- 
ciliation and concession, icgarding it as a compromise worthy of a Southern 
President lo offer, and wortiiy of both the Southern and Northern people to 
accept. 

I know that there have been many reproaches and criminations dealt out 
agamst some of us by the ullraisls of the free States, for being willing to 
make even this compromise. Because we are not (juite so rampant and 
roysterous in regard lo the anti-slavery proviso as some of its peculiar friends,, 
we are charged with inconsistency, desertion, and treachery. Now, sir, I 
am one of those who think that Northern men can afford to be a little for- 



24 

bearing upon this subject, wiilioiit incurring an}^ just liability to such impu- 
tations. I am of opinion that there is ample reason (o be found in the 
changed comhtion of public affairs, in the altered circumstances of the case, 
for the evident relaxation of the Northern sentiment on the subject of this 
proviso, and for the manifest willingness of the northern mind to acquiesce 
in what has been called the non-action policy of the President. 

Why, sir, at the lime that proviso was originally proposed — at the lime it 
was made the subject of such ardent protestations of uncompromising devo- 
tion — what was the state of the country and of the question? We were then 
at war with Mexico, and with the strongest reason to apprehend that this 
war was to be pressed even to the extinction and absorption of the whole 
Mexican Republic. A vast, undefined extension of territory was thus in 
prospect, upon which slavery wasj or was not, to be planted and establish- 
ed. That war, thank Heaven, has been brought to a close. We are now 
at peace; and what is more, sir, the treaty of peace has been so arranged, 
and the boundary line so run, thai, though we may hesitate to adiuit that 
Nature has everywhere settled the question against slavery, we must, yet, 
all perceive and acknowledge that the territory which has been acquired 
holds out but little comparative temptation or inducement to its introduction. 

What else has occurred? Why , sir, at the time we all committed our- 
selves so hotly to the support of the proviso, no government had yet been 
established in Oregon, and a pmpose had been exhibited to insist upon the 
right of slavery to go there. Since then, the principles of the ordinance of 
1787 have been extended, by solemn enactment, over that whole territory. 

What further have we witnessed? Why, sir, California— California, a 
thousand fold the most important and valuable part of the territories acquir- 
ed from Mexico, has settled the question for herself, and spontaneously 
dedicated the treasures of her virgin soil, and the riches of her magnificent 
mines, to the labor of freemen forever! 

Sir, I do not say that there is to be found in all this the slightest justifi- 
cation for WW abandonment of Northern principle. But is there not, is 
there not, ample reason for an abatement of the Noithern tone, for a for- 
bearance of Northern urgency, upon this subject, without the imputation of 
tergiversation and treachery? 

I think, feir, tliat I do not undervalue the importance of the great princi- 
ples of the ordinance of 1787, and of that proviso which I prefer hence- 
forth to associate with the gieat names of Thomas Jefferson, and Nathan 
Dane, and Rufus King, rather than with that of any public man of the 
present day, however distinguished or notorious he may have become. 
But I can never put the question of extending slave soil on the same foot- 
ing with one of directly increasing slavery and multiplying slaves. If a 
positive issue could ever again be made up for our decision, whether human 
beings, few or luany, of whatever race, complexion, or condition, should 
be freshly subjected to a system of hereditary bondage, and be changed 
from freemen into slaves, I can conceive that no bonds of union, no ties of 
interest, no chords of sympathy, no considerations of past glory, present 
welfare ,or future grandeur, would be suflered to interfere for an instant 
with our resolute and unceasing resistance to a measure so iniquitous and 
abominable. There would be a clear, unquestionable, moral element in 
such an issue, which would admit of no coiTipromise^ no concession, no 



25 

forbearance whatever. We could never sanction such a )X)hcy; we could 
never submit toil. A million of swords would leap fron> their scabbards 
to arrest it, and the Union iiself would be sluvered like a Prince Rupert's 
drop in tlie shock! 

But, sir, the question wjiether the institution of slavery, as it already 
exists, shall be permitted to exieud itself over a hundred, or a hundred thou- 
sand, more scjuare miles than it now occupies, is a different question. The 
influences of such a policy upon the ultimate extinction of slavery, and 
upon the condition of its unfortunate victims as long as it lasts, may well 
be a subject for careful consideration. There maybe two sides even to 
some of the moral aspects of the question. At any rate, sir, it is not. in 
my judgment, such an issue that conscientious and religious men may not 
be free to acquiesce in whatever decision may be arrived at by the consti- 
tuted authorities of the country. 

For myself, Mr. Chairman, I can truly say, that it is not wiih a view of 
cooping up slavery, as it has been termed, within limits loo narrow for its 
natural growth; that it is not for the purpose of girding it round with lin^s 
of tire till its sting, like that of the scorpion, shall he turned upon itselfj 
that it is not for the sake of subjecting it to a sort of cxperimetUum cmcis; 
that I, for one, have ever advocated the principles of the ordinance of 
1787. Nor have I the slighiest imagination that such would be the result 
of enforcing those principles, withiti any estimable period of time. 

Why, sir, are you aware, do Southern gentlemen remember, that what 
are called the slave States of (his Union, Texas to the Rio Grande being- 
included, contain about nine hundred and forty thousand scpiare miles of 
territory, with a while population, by the census of 1840, of considerably 
less than five millions of people? Allow, if you please, that this popula- 
tion has increased, during the last ten years, sufficiently to bring up the 
whole existing population, slaves included, to nine n)illions of people. 
You have then less than ten persons, black and while, bond and free, to a 
square mile of territory! Is there not room enough here for every degree 
of expansion which can be predicted, upon the largest calculation, for a 
century to come? 

Mean time, sir, do not forget, that the free Slates, with a population, by 
the census of 1840, of more than nine millions and a half, and which must 
now have run up to not less than thirteen or fourteen millions, have only 
about four hundred and fifly thousand square miles. In other words, the 
free States, at this moment, have thirty persons to a square mile, while the 
slave Slates have only leu! 

I exclude all the territories in this calculation. But it is a striking fact, 
ihat if all the territories, without exception, not included within the limits 
of any State, were added to the free Slates, and a proportion were then in- 
stituted between the number of square miles occupied by the free white 
population of the two classes of States, ii would be found that the slave 
Slates would fall but little short of their full share. And this, sir, without 
making any allowance for the uninhabitable deserts and frozen wastes and 
mountains of rock and ice, by which these territories are so greatly curtailed 
m their dimensions, so far as any practical purposes of occupation or en- 
joy nieni are concerned. 



26 

1 repeal, then, ?4r. Chaiinian, it is not with the vain idea of crowding 
slavery oul of existence, that I adhere to the principles of the ordinance of 
1787. 

Nor is il, sir, upon any consideration of local power, or with any view 
of securing a sectional preponderance. For one, I see in the Constitution 
of the United States an ample security against any real aggression which 
either section of the Union could be tempted to commit against the other. 
And even if it were not so, there is a peculiar lie of common interest among 
the slave Stales, growing out of this very institution of slavery, which 
always has made them, and always will make them, a full match for any 
number of free Stales which may be included within the limits of this 
Union. In our local competitions and party differences, ihey will find 
ample room for the exercise of a controlling influence. I am not sure that 
it is not their destiny always to hold the balance of power among States 
and between parties, and thus to be able to adopt the proud motto — proiest 
cui adhinreo^^ — which may be liberally interpreted "Ae shall be President, 
to v'honh J adhere!^' 

Sir, the territories which have come under our guardianship are, in my 
judgment, of more worth than to be made the mere 'inake-weights in the 
scales of sectional equality. They are entitled to another sort of conside- 
ration, than to be cut up and partitioned oft', like downtiodden Poland, in 
order to satisfy the longings, and appease the jealousies, of surrounding 
States. They are — they ought certainly — to be disposed of and regulated 
by us, with a pritiiary regarti to the prosperity and welfare of those wiio 
occupy them now, and those who are destined to occupy them hereafter, 
and not with the selfish view of augmenting the mere local power or pride 
of any of us. 

Mr' Chairman, 1 see in the territorial possessions of this Union, the seats 
of new Slates, ihe cradles of new Commonv.'ealths, ihe nurseries, it may 
be, of new Republican empires. I see, in them, the future abodes of our 
brethren, our children, and our children's children, for a thousand genera- 
dons. 1 see, growing up within their borders, institutions upon which the 
diaracler and condition of a vast multitude of the American faniily , and 
of ihe human race, in all time to come, are to depend. 1 feel, that for liie 
original shaping and moulding of these institutions, you and I, and each 
one of us who occupy these seals, are in jwrl res])onsibIe. And I cannot 
omit to ask myself, what shall I do, that I may deserve the gratitude and 
the blessing, and not the condemnation and the curse, of that posterity, 
whose welfare is thus in some degree committed to my care? 

As I pursue this inquiry , sir, 1 look back instinctively to the day, now 
more than two liundred years ago, when the Atlantic coast was the scene 
of events like those now in progress upon the Pacific; when incited, not, 
indeed; by a love of gold, but by a devotion to that which is belter than 
gold, and whose price is above rubies, the forefathers of New England 
were planting their Utile colony upon that rock-bountl shore. 1 look back 
to the day when slavery existed nowhere upon the American continent, 
and before that first Dutch ship, "built in the eclipse, and rigged with 
curses dark," had made its way to Jamestown, with a cargo of hmt:an 
beings in bondage. I reflect how much our fathers would have exulted, 
could they have arrested the progress of that ill-slarred vessel, and of all 



27 



others of kindred employment. I remember how earnestly the patriots of 
Virginia and South Carolina ag-ain and again pleaded and protested against 
the pohcy of Great Britain in forcing slaves upon them against tiieir will. 
I recall the original language of tiie Declaration of independence itself, as 
first drafted by Tlioinas Jefferson, assigning it as one of the movuifj causes 
for throwing off" our allegiance to (he Briiisii monarch, that ''lie had waged 
cruel war against human nature itself, violating iis most sacred rights of 
life and liberty in (he persons of a distant people who never offended him, 
captivating and carrying them into slavery in anotlier hemisphere, oi to 
incur miserable death in their transportation tjiither;" and that, "determined 
to keep open a market where men should be bought and sold, he had 
prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit 
or to restrain this execrable commerce." 

1 remember, too, that whatever material advantages may have since been 
derived from slave labor in the cultivation of a crop which M'as then un- 
known to our country, the moral character and tocial influences of the in- 
stitution are still precisely what they were described to be. by those 
who imderstood them best, in the eailier daysof the Republic. And I see, 
too, as no man can help seeing, that almost all the internal dangers and 
domestic dissensions which casta doubt, or a shadow of doubt, upon the 
perpetuity of our glorious Union, have been and still are, the direct or in- 
direct consequences of the existence of this institution. And thus seeing, 
thus remembering, thus reflecting, how can I do otherwise than resolve, 
that it shall be by no vole of mine that slavery shall be established in any 
territory where it does not already exist? 

These, Mr. Chairman, are the consiueiations which influence and control 
my action on the questions before us. I do not ask, what the Northern 
Stales, or what the Southern States, might find most agreeable to their feel- 
ings, or most advaiitageous to their interests. 1 ask only, what is right, 
what is just, what is best, for the permanent welfare of the people of those 
future Commonwealths, whose foundations are now about (o be laid, and 
whose destinies are now about to be determined. And all my observation, 
all my experience, all the convictions of my mind and of iiiy heart, unite 
in replying to this question, that slavery is not only an injustice and a 
wrong to those who are under its immediate yoke, but that it is an evil and 
an injury to the highest social, moral, and political interests of any Stale in 
which it exists. 

Here, then, sir, 1 bring these reniarks to a close. I have explained, 
to the best of my ability, the views which 1 entertain of the great 
questions of the day. Thoie views may be misrepresented hereafter, 
as they have been heretofore; but they cannot be misunderstood by any 
one who desires, or who is even willing, to understand them. Most gladly 
would I have found myself agreeing more entirely with some of the friends 
whom 1 see around me, and with more than one of those elsewhere, with 
whom I have always been proud to be associated, and whose lead, on al- 
most all occasions, 1 have rejoiced to follow. 

One tie, however, I am persuaded, still remains to us all — a common 
devotion to the Union of these Stales, and a common determination to sac- 
rifice everything but principle to its ])reservation. Our responsibilities are 
indeed great. This vast Republic, stretching from sea to sea, and rapidly 



28 

oiUgrovving everything but our afi'ectioiis, looks anxiously to us, this day, to 
take care that it receives no detriment. Nor is it too much to say, that the eyes 
and the hearts of the frieruls of constitutional freedom throughout the world 
are at this moment turned eagerly here — more eagerly than ever before — 
to beholil an example of successful Republican Institutions, and to see theiri 
come out safely and triumpiianily from the fiery trial to which they are 
now subjected! 

1 have the firmest failh that these eyes and these hearts will not be dis- 
appointed. I have t'iie strongest belief that the visions and piiantoms of 
disunion which now appal us, will soon be remembered only like the clouds 
of some April morning, or "the dissolving views" of sojne evening specta- 
cle. I have the fullest conviction that this glorious Republic is destined to 
outlast all, all, at either end of the Union, who may be plotting against its 
peace, or predicting its downfall. 

"Fond, impious man ! think'st iliou yon sanguine cloud, 
Raised by tliy breath, can quench the orb of day? 
To-morrow, it repairs its golden flood, 
And warmw the nations with redoubled ray !" 

Let us proceed in the settlement of the unfortunate controversies in which 
we find ourselves involved in a spirit of mutual conciliation and concession : — 
Let us invoke fervently upon our efforts the blessing of that Almighty Being 
who is ''the author of peace and the lover of concord:" — And we shall 
still find order springing out of confusion, harmony evoked from discord, 
and Peace, Union, and Liberty, once more reassured to our landl 



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